Day 3 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…talking over manuscripts with writers at the Vineyard Arts Project and hearing the evening readings by the wonderful Hannah Bae and the wonderful Jackson Brown!
Oh, just 3 alumni from Indiana University’s MFA in Creative Writing strolling along the night-time docks in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard: Alexander Weinstein, Jackson Brown, and yours truly!
Day 2 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…exploring Edgartown, then giving my poetry reading tonight alongside the wonderful Vogue Robinson!
With a “skol” and a raised glass of elderflower wine Director Alexander Weinstein opens the first week of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing 2026 Summer Conference. I’m teaching here for my 13th year, alongside Alexander, Hannah Bae, Vogue Robinson, and Jackson Brown! Here’s to a week of writing on the Vineyard!!!
Two weeks after teaching poetry at the Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture on Kefalonia, Greece, I taught my 13th year at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing: prose poetry & flash fiction, the lyric essay, and literary publishing…plus a writers life panel and my poetry reading. I’m a very fulfilled poet and teacher this summer! On top of that I have one more writing conference to teach at: the awesome Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks!
Eight days in a magical place, Kefalonia Greece, made all the more magical by the wonderful people who shared it all. I’ll carry those days in my heart. May our paths cross again. 🙏❤️
Day 9 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: morning boat excursion to swim in the sea beside the island of Ithaca, lunch in Vathi, then a swim in a magical cave at magical Myrthos Beach with the magical marble pebble beach.
Day 8 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: 2 morning cats, visiting the Mycenaean Cemetery of Mazarakata (1390 BCE) for a dramatized duologue from the Persephone Project written by Vicky Yiannoutsos, another visit to the transcendent Avythos Beach!
Day 7 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece cont: in addition to reading my poetry atop Mt. Aenos, teaching a poetry workshop in a marble amphitheater, beachside lunch at Avithos Preview Taverna, Kefalonia beehives, the mountains, magical writers in a magical place!
Day 7 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: I gave a poetry reading atop Mount Aenos!!!
…at 5,300 ft the tallest mountain on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, Greece…on a mossy stone outcrop, surrounded by Greek fir, black pine, wild bellflowers, violets, and poppies…and generous people willing to pay attention to me lipping off for 20 minutes while on top of the world.
Here I am reading my poem “Come In Go Ahead Say Again” recently published online at The Normal School.
https://www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2024/11/21/come-in-go-ahead-say-again-by-christopher-citro
